Cole shook his head.“A lot of field agents who are married lie to their spouses about their jobs—especially when they’re involved in dark ops.It’s just easier that way.Eric said Franklin told her he was a police detective who did undercover work, so she could never contact him at the station or ask too many questions about what he was doing when he wasn’t home.”
Which only left one other question that had been bugging her.“How the hell did a fuckwad like Franklin pull a woman as hot as Stella?”
Cole’s mouth frowned, but his eyes were smiling as he said, “I love how you’re always quick to ask thetrulyimportant questions.”
Hey, what could she say?It was a gift.And a curse…
Tenley opened the front door, phone in her free hand, and raised a brow at them.“Look, I can keep figuring this whole thing out for you, but that’s not going to teach you anything.So, care to come back in and contribute somethingotherthan good looks to this plan for a change?”
“Ireallydon’t like her,” Cole muttered.
Tenley rolled her eyes.“Oh, boo hoo.You’re breaking my heart, Broody McBroodypants.And here I was thinking we could braid each other’s hair and talk about our feelings when this is all said and done.”
OK,thatwas funny, Hadley was willing to admit to herself.She wouldn’t admit it outloud, because that would undoubtedly encourage Tenley and Cole already looked ready to choke her out.So, for the sake of Tenley’s elegant neck, she said, “We found out that Franklin is?—”
Tenley waved her off.“Yeah, yeah, he’s Stella’s ex.”
Spilling the tea to someone who already seemed to know everything was so deflating.If Tenley had been sent in on this mission, the whole thing probably would’ve been done faster than she could’ve had a pizza delivered.
“Come back inside,” Tenley said.“I’ll tell you what Ren found out and we can plan our next move.”
When Tenley had turned on her expensive-looking heels and disappeared back into the house, Hadley glanced up at Cole.“I’m glad she’s on our side.”
“With friends like that, who needs enemies?”
Hadley snorted.“At this point, I think we need all the help we can get.”
He offered her his hand with a sigh.“When this is all over, I say we disappear for at least a month and avoidallother humans.”
“Now you’re just talking dirty to me.”
Cole, Hadley, and Tenley—with Ren on speaker phone—sat around the kitchen table like they were in the Pentagon war room for a senior advisor’s session.
“OK, so here’s what we know,” Tenley said.“Ericwasa Russian sleeper agent.He retired himself and faked his own death in spectacular fashion.He met and married Stella, who was relatively fresh off a divorce from Franklin, your friendly CIA blackmailer.”
“It wasnotan amicable divorce,” Hadley murmured.“Stella said he fought her every step of the way for nearly a year before the final papers were signed.And he only signed because she threatened to report him to the cops for hitting her during their last argument.But before that, he’d been actively stalking her, running into her everywhere she went, showing up at her job.Sounds like he made a real nuisance of himself.She was legit scared of him toward the end.”
“I’m not surprised,” Cole said.“He was always a loose cannon on the job.Why would he be any different at home?”
Tenley’s nose crinkled up.“Poor Stella.Is this enough to blackmail him with?I mean, we can already prove to his bosses that this entire mission was off the books with no authorization because he wants to ruin his ex-wife’s happily ever after.Seems like that’d be enough.”
Oh, how Cole wished Tenley was right.He scrubbed a hand over the back of his neck.“It would be…if what Franklin had was anything less than murder charges on Hadley.Andif those murder charges wouldn’t put her on the bad side of the Irish mafia.”
Hadley frowned.“He was probably bluffing about the mutually assured destruction, right?”
If it was only his life on the line, maybe Cole would take that chance.But with Hadley on the line?No fucking way.“I’m not willing to bet on that.We need somethingbigif we want him out of the way and not just out of a job.”
Ren cleared his throat.“I have?—”
“Ren, I swear to Jesus,” Tenley interrupted.“If you say you have a bunch of lye, I’m going to junk punch you.Dissolving a body isnotthe answer to every problem.”
“Could be if you were more open minded,” Ren grumbled somewhat defensively.
Cole wouldn’t have been so quick to dismiss lye as a solution if Tenley and Hadley weren’t sitting here, looking so horrified at the suggestion.But as it stood, he supposed they shouldprobablylook for a way out of this mess that didn’t involve flesh-eating substances.
“So, how do we getbetterdirt on him?”Hadley asked.
Tenley shrugged.“We could destroy his credibility with the agency.I’m assuming he doesn’t have much since he’s been in the same job with no upward mobility for this long.But if we got rid of whatever hedidhave, he could accuse you and Hadley of whatever he wanted and no one would believe it, including the Irish.Hell, the Irish might even thinkFranklinkilled their guys if we play our cards right.”
